


No Destiny Required

by krispy_kream



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Confessions, Dreams, M/M, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-04-06 06:15:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14050731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krispy_kream/pseuds/krispy_kream
Summary: It's not that Jongdae knows who his soulmate is yet, it's more like… wishful thinking. Or maybe more like he can’t comprehend the idea that it could be anyone else. He already feels so content, it’s hard not to suspect that maybe he’s already found him.Not that he can tell Baekhyun that. He’d sound crazy.





	No Destiny Required

**Author's Note:**

> Soulmate mechanics courtesy of [Kookminau on tumblr](http://kookminau.tumblr.com/)! And now I can't stop using it, I'm sorry muffin, it's too good. 
> 
> THERE IS ACCIDENTALLY UNDERAGE DRINKING because I'm of an age where I straight up forgot... that legal drinking age is a thing... that's it, that's why it happens, I'm sorry about that. Remember kids: if you're going to engage in underage drinking, do it in a safe place surrounded by people you trust!!

Byun Baekhyun wakes up the morning after his 18th birthday, having dreamt of nothing, and thinks: Thank god. 

It’s the first thing anyone asks when you turn 18; “did you meet your soulmate last night?” and it is honestly the worst. Well, that isn’t fair to say. Prior to this very moment, Baekhyun was easily the biggest perpetrator of pestering people about their soulmates the moment they came of age. He pestered people before they turned 18. He pestered people for months after their birthday. Heaven forbid anyone dreamt about their soulmate on their actual birthday because Baekhyun would sing it from the mountain top for an entire year and then spend the rest of eternity trying to pry for information about who it was. No one has yet told him details while they were still actively dreaming of their special someone. It’s like no one trusts him not to meddle with fate. 

But not anymore! Baekhyun is turning over a new leaf! He doesn’t care about soulmate dreams! He will never pester anyone about them ever again. It’s the worst! 

His birthday apparently opens the floodgates, though, and everyone is after his ass from the moment he comes of age. “Payback,” Junmyeon calls it. _Gee thanks_ , Baekhyun thinks. He tries not to be too hard on them all; he knows it’s all in good fun and he definitely deserves it, but the subject is so stressful to him now that he’s living it. He’d really prefer it if the whole dream soulmate shebang wasn’t a thing at this point. It’s a real and terrifying possibility that, any day now, he could dream of someone he’s never met that he’ll love more than…

Well, more than anyone he already knows. 

Baekhyun never wants to have a soulmate dream. He just down right refuses. Fate can back the hell off because he already knows his soulmate, he doesn’t need a dream to tell him.

There’s still four months before Kim Jongdae turns 18. He’s not out of the woods yet. 

-

Jongdae is what you would call a hopeless romantic. He loves soulmate stories in all shapes and sizes, real and fictional, happy and sad. If it’s romance tied with destiny he loves it. He’s always eager to hear about people’s dreams, to hear them talk about the warmth and happiness they experience when they’re with their soulmates. There’s a soft, lovestruck look that takes over their whole body and he’s never met anyone who could hide it. He loves watching it happen, loves seeing his friends happy and content. That's a big part of why he likes soulmate stories so much, the amount of joy it brings to other people.

And the other part of it is… He’s sort of expecting to never experience it himself.

Of course, he doesn’t _know_ who his soulmate is. He's not quite old enough to have any clues or start speculating or anything, it's more like… wishful thinking. Or maybe more like he can’t comprehend the idea that it could be anyone else. He already feels so content, it’s hard not to suspect that maybe he’s already found him. 

Not that he can tell Baekhyun that. He’d sound crazy.

As it is, Baekhyun has been oddly cagey on the subject of soulmates lately. He never misses an opportunity to tease someone about coming of age, and he’s never gone easy on Jongdae before, but he’s definitely been avoiding the topic since he turned 18 himself. He doesn’t even let the subject come up around him; he steers the conversation away so fast that it gives everyone around them whiplash. Jongdae can’t fathom what could have caused the shift. Maybe Baekhyun is lying about not having dreamt at all?

Ugh. That’d be more than a little disappointing. 

He can’t ask about it without giving away his own unfounded suspicions, and he really doesn’t want to find out like that anyway. But the fact stands that Baekhyun is almost certainly worried about something, and that something probably has to do with his soulmate. Baekhyun has a habit of worrying about stupid things that don’t warrant getting worked up over, and fate isn't something either of them can do anything about anyway, but Jongdae can’t help feeling a little concerned himself whenever Baek gets like this. 

And so it is with a small degree of trepidation that Jongdae reaches his 18th birthday. Of course, his roommates refuse to let him go without a party (that’s the problem with being friends with all your numerous and rowdy housemates). Junmyeon comes over early to attempt to bake a cake, Han and Minseok set out the alcohol before anything else, Chanyeol comes to pretend to be helpful while he heckles everyone, and Baekhyun…

Baekhyun doesn’t show up early. It’s weird. 

In fact he shows up kind of late, enough so that Kris has already forgotten to care about remembering how old anyone is when he calls for shots. It’s fine, Jongdae doesn’t like making his own birthday into a big deal, but Chanyeol and Baekhyun are usually with him all day for it, and it’s a little lonely, playing tug-of-war with the streamers without Baekhyun there to tie himself into a knot and claim he’s a present. 

But show up he eventually does, with a grin and a hug and a “Our baby is finally an adult like the rest of us!” even if the teasing doesn’t sparkle in his eyes like it usually does. It’s the first time Jongdae hasn’t felt better for his presence; he always feels some measure of comfort when Baekhyun is around, but this time it just kicks his nerves into high gear thinking that perhaps the subject of soulmates will be unavoidable this time. But before Jongdae can even say more than two words to him, there’s a chorus of “shots!” from the kitchen, and Baekhyun is off like a rocket to answer the call. 

“Man, he is really freaked out about you turning 18, huh?” Chanyeol says as the kitchen erupts into chaos at Baekhyun’s arrival. 

It occurs to Jongdae that the problem is even more serious than he realized if even Chanyeol can tell something is up. 

It’s several hours into the party, as Jongdae and Han debate action movie directors over yet another slice of cake, that Baekhyun resurfaces from the drunken rowdy stupor the party has dissolved into. He stalks up to Jongdae with an intense purpose that could not possibly be warranted, and doesn’t stop until they are nearly chest to chest. Baekhyun wavers on unsteady feet as if their closeness is the only thing holding him up, then takes a deep breath. 

“You,” he says with a pointed jab into Jongdae’s sternum, “Are not allowed to have a soulmate dream tonight.”

What.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re not allowed, ok? No fate dreams for you, promise me,” Baekhyun continues, the words tumbling out of him in a desperate rush as if they’d been trapped in his throat for weeks. 

Jongdae cannot even begin to address how many things are wrong with Baekhyun’s demands, much less… register exactly what they imply. 

“Are you okay, Baek?” He asks instead, placing a steadying hand at Baekhyun’s hip. 

“I’m your soulmate, okay???” Baekhyun barrels on, punctuating his words with more jabs all over Jongdae’s ribs that slow and meander as his thoughts seem to peter out. “I’m your soulmate, so. I’m your soulmate. I have to be.”

Jongdae stands in stunned silence for a moment as Baekhyun continues to sway in his hold, glaring at something near his collar while simultaneously looking like he’s falling asleep. 

Yixing is there a moment later to drag him away, laughing something about dares and poor choices that Jongdae doesn’t even hear. Han is laughing along with him, but it just sounds like white noise. All Jongdae can process is the image of Baekhyun’s retreating back, his shoulder jammed so far into Yixing’s side it looks like he’s melted, but even that feels surreal in the jumbled up mess Baekhyun has made of his thoughts. 

He thinks they’re soulmates. He _wants_ to be soulmates. Jongdae should be ecstatic but he’s literally on the cusp of finding out that both of them are horribly wrong. He can’t be having these speculative hopes right before he ruins them. He can’t meet his soulmate with a smile knowing Baekhyun feels this way about him, knowing they feel the _same_. 

A hand waves in front of his face, and Jongdae snaps back to reality to find Han leaning across the counter towards him with a lopsided grin. 

“Hellooo, earth to Jongdae?”

“Sorry, wow, we really can’t leave our asshole friends unsupervised, can we?” Jongdae tries to say with a shaky laugh. 

But Han’s smile slides up into a full-fledged smirk, and now he’s looking at Jongdae like a cat who’s found it’s prey. 

“So, you and Baek, huh?”

Jongdae nearly chokes. 

“That would be some cruel joke if the universe stuck us together for life, huh?” he laughs hastily. 

“Yeah,” Han says, sounding not the least bit convinced, “cruel, sure, you could call it that.”

“You’re just trying to get out of having to defend Abram’s love affair with lense flare,” Jongdae says, trying to get out of having to admit he’s kind of in love with Baekhyun. 

It works. 

“You say that like it’s some kind of crime against cinema, I thought you understood aesthetics!”

Their discussion resumes, and Jongdae shifts back into normalcy, hiding his new-found knowledge behind lame jokes and concealing how his heart still pounds with laughs that are too loud.

Honestly, it’s a good party overall. Despite Jongdae’s nerves and Baekhyun’s… everything, he has a good time. He reaches a strange semblance of calm as the night ticks closer to morning, the kind of calm that comes with good company and a general lack of sleep. It’s more than just the shouting and continuous laughter that keeps him up, but putting off sleep is easy around these people who know just what to say even when they don’t know anything is wrong. He’d be willing to greet the sunrise with his friends, but not everyone has extra reasons to be up like him. His housemates start passing out one by one until the only one left with him at the kitchen table playing cards is Junmyeon. 

“Are you nervous?” Junmyeon asks as he rearranges the cards in his hand. “About meeting your soulmate?”

“Meh,” Jongdae answers with a shrug, even if he had been not three hours earlier. “I mean, I guess a little. But fate is gonna take the wheel no matter what I want, so I’m trying not to worry so much about it.” He pauses to play a card, then adds, “I’m more concerned with… not having one, you know?”

Junmyeon hums. “Dreaming right away is certainly ideal.”

“What does it mean if I don’t...” Jongdae can’t help but ask with a mumble. 

“There are a couple options,” Junmyeon begins, as if they don’t already know how these things work. “Maybe they’re not 18, maybe they’re up all night like you. Or, heaven forbid, they're an early bird.”

“Now I’m just ruining my chances, staying up until,” he spares a glance at the oven clock, “four in the morning, fuck.”

Junmyeon chuckles lightly as he picks his own card to play. “Is that really what you’re worried about? Not having a soulmate?”

“Not… exactly,” Jongdae admits. 

Junmyeon smiles at him like he already knows. Honestly, he probably does by now.

“You could already know him,” he says. 

“And if that’s the case,” Jongdae asks, staring at his hand as if he has some semblance of a poker face, as if not everyone already knows his ever growing suspicions, “how long am I supposed to pretend like I’m still waiting?”

“I suppose that depends on how bad your soulmate is at pretending.”

Jongdae huffs a laugh. A certain someone wasn’t even _trying_ anymore. 

“You’re soulmates,” Junmyeon continues, and Jongdae has to remind himself that they’re not necessarily talking about he and Baekhyun. “You won’t be able to help coming together. That’s how it works. You might as well enjoy the process.”

“Fair,” Jongdae says, and the smile that’s unconsciously spread across his lips feels more genuine than any of the others that night. 

They play another two rounds, maybe to pretend like this soulmate business wasn’t the sole source of Jongdae’s insomnia, but Junmyeon is only a nightowl when he has to be, and he’s already half asleep in his cards by the time he calls it a night. 

There’s nothing else that will help Jongdae put off his first night as an adult. He might as well face this soulmate business if it’s coming for him tonight. 

The living room has transformed into something resembling a den of snoring lions. Chanyeol is sprawled out on the floor practically covered in throw pillows. Minseok and Han have somehow managed to fit both of themselves on the couch, their limbs so entangled it’s impossible to discern who is who. And Baekhyun has passed out sitting at their feet, slumped over so far he’s practically bent in half and in danger of toppling over the armrest. 

Jongdae smiles. The only thing this party had been missing was more time with Baekhyun by his side. It’d be a shame to leave that regret in the air, knowing they’re both afraid of the same thing. He tiptoes to the couch and bends down to lean in close. 

“Wake up, sleepy head,” he says, running his fingers through Baekhyun’s hair to brush it away from his eyes. “How you feeling?”

“Is it morning?” Baekhyun grumbles before he even opens his eyes. He presses toward Jongdae’s touch for a moment before letting his head roll back and then all the way around. 

“Nah, not quite,” Jongdae tells him with a smile he can’t hold in. “You look like you’re gonna break your neck, sleeping like this.”

“This is hardly the worst I’ve done to it,” he says. He rubs his face with both hands, blows out a long breath, then sits up almost properly. “I’m probably good now, I can head out-”

“Whoa, whoa,” Jongdae says, steadying him by his shoulders. “I don’t think so, you were so wasted tonight.”

Baekhyun tilts back and forth in his hold for a moment, swaying for no reason with his eyes closed until he gets dizzy and stops to laugh at himself. Jongdae laughs too, soft puffs of breath in the precarious still of the morning, then slides his hands down Baekhyun’s arms to pull him to his feet. 

“C’mon, up we go,” he urges. For a moment, he feels goosebumps pop up along Baekhyun’s skin.

Baekhyun is probably mostly recovered, but now he’s sleepy, so it’s no surprise when he stands only to lean heavily into Jongdae’s chest. Their laughter is hushed and barely suppressed as Jongdae turns him around, holding him steady by the shoulders again. 

“Where are we going?” he mumbles as Jongdae steers him down the hall. 

“First to brush your gross ass teeth, then to a real bed.”

“Am I dreaming?” Baekhyun asks, his head lulling back to look up at him. “Is this my soulmate dream?”

“Nice try.”

-

It is, quite frankly, a miracle that he manages to get Baekhyun to take off his jeans before he literally dives for the bed. He bounces from the force of it, then has to resort to some squirming maneuvers to get under the covers. Jongdae lets him have at; he is not foregoing pajamas even if it is nearly 5 am. 

“We meet again, Jongdae’s bed,” he mumbles into the pillow. “I missed you.”

Jongdae laughs as he pulls on his sweats. “I didn’t know you missed having sleepovers.”

Baekhyun is now hugging the pillow to his face like he’s the only one who’s going to be using it. He pokes his head up to peer at Jongdae, and his words come out mostly muffled.

“I always wanna sleep over. No one lets me sleep in their bed like you do.”

That gives Jongdae pause. It’s something he’d never considered before, making Baekhyun sleep somewhere else. And maybe that’s more telling than anything, now that he’s thinking about it. He always lets Baekhyun sleep in his bed because that’s where Jongdae wants him.

“Old habits die hard, I guess,” Jongdae says instead as he slides under the covers, pushing Baekhyun back with his feet on Baekhyun’s knees. “Get outta the way.”

Baekhyun relents without much fuss, and they settle comfortably together. Jongdae hooks their legs together because he already knows Baekhyun wants to, and Baek presses his head into the crook of his shoulder like he belongs there. 

It’s been a long time since Jongdae has let himself hold Baekhyun like this. Baekhyun has always been touchy with everyone he likes, but Jongdae feels like this is something they were supposed to outgrow. Maybe they would have, if it were anyone else, but there’s a reason Jongdae expects to dream of no one tonight. If just Baekhyun’s company sets Jongdae’s heart at ease, then physical closeness makes the whole world seem right. He could never bring himself to wholly push Baekhyun away, even when he thought he was supposed to.

He realizes his sigh is one of relief as he wraps an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder.

“I'm gonna protect you from dreaming about weirdos you don't know,” Baekhyun mumbles into his neck.

Jongdae breaths a laugh into Baekhyun’s hair. 

“My hero,” he says, but somehow that’s a relief too. 

Baekhyun is asleep in an instant, like he didn’t just spend the whole evening acting out and stressing about soulmates or whatever. He’s better this way, carefree and affectionate, bundled up against Jongdae like he’s never letting go. This is the Baekhyun he fell in love with, no destiny required. 

He presses a kiss to the top of his head and whispers, “Sweet dreams, Baek.”

-

He dreams of darkness. It stretches before him in all directions, but it’s not empty. Something fills the space, something like excitement, a thrill, anticipation. He can’t make out anything hidden in the shadows, but he knows it’s addicting just the same. Lights come on behind him with an audible snap, and he turns at the sound, turns away from the darkness but can’t forget it. In front of him, at the center of what look like stage lights, is his mother’s old couch. It’s the kind with removable cushions, perfect for pillow forts and losing snacks. She got rid of it ages ago, shortly after he got to middle school, and it was kind of embarrassing how disappointed he had been. It was like he’d lost something important. In the end it hadn’t mattered; they built forts elsewhere, found other ways to hide away in their own little world, just the two of them. He still thinks of the forts they had built with this couch from time to time, a fond memory he misses but is always too embarrassed to bring up. 

There’s footsteps. Jongdae looks up at the sound and there’s relief, wonder, love. It settles over his heart like a soft blanket and it’s like he’s back, giggling in the darkness with his favorite person. He feels the laughter bubble up from his chest, but his vision fades before it has the chance to escape. 

There is only a calm happiness. The familiar feeling of looking into someone’s eyes. 

He wakes warm and tangled and content. He probably only slept for a few hours but he feels more rested than he has in years. There’s a pleasant hum left over from the dream running through his veins as he takes stock of how he and Baekhyun have pressed impossibly closer together in their sleep. It’s love; a connection he’s always had, amplified under sheets and spare limbs and it’s just a natural progression to dip his head and catch Baekhyun’s lips with his own. 

Baekhyun kisses back like he was waiting for it, like the same thought guided them together, and their lips fit like they were always meant to be. It feels like a dream, soft and hazy and too easy to be real. Baekhyun hums into his mouth as they move together, as Jongdae snakes his hand up along his spine to brush the skin of his neck with a featherlight touch. Jongdae feels Baek’s hand fist into his shirt to tug lightly, and it tugs Jongdae a little more awake. 

He pulls away as it suddenly strikes him that they’ve crossed a line they’ve never touched before. That, despite how _he_ knows they both feel the same, Baekhyun does _not_ and they haven't really said anything about it to each other yet. It should feel like it's too soon; there's too much they both don't know, so much he should say before selfishly diving in like this. They stare at each other, both of them silent as he wrestles with his thoughts. But the happy fog hasn’t faded from his mind and it assures him that they were drawn together for a reason, that logic and talking can wait when they’re already here in each other’s arms. Baekhyun is looking at him like he’s ready to throw logic out the window for now too. 

This time they crash into each other like a tidal wave. Jongdae gasps into Baekhyun’s mouth, and there’s a gnash of teeth and pent up desire that steals all the breath from his lungs. Baekhyun tugs at him and it’s not even an unfamiliar pull; it’s greedy and affectionate and Jongdae feels like a fucking idiot for not recognizing it sooner. He follows it hungirly, falls deeper into the kiss until Baekhyun is growling. Baekhyun pushes forward in an effort to get closer, rolls them so that he is half on top of Jongdae, and it gives him the leverage to take Jongdae’s face in both hands and pull him in even closer, as if there was any space left. 

There’s a moment of stillness when they pull apart to catch their breath, the air hot in the minimal space between them. Jongdae feels as if there’s a light blooming in his chest, a freedom and elation at finally having what he’s always wanted. He looks up at Baekhyun and sees a host of unfamiliar emotions play across his face, like he’s still trying to parse through what’s just happened and what it means. 

Jongdae lets a grin spread slowly across his face, his lips curling at the edges into his cheshire grin, then says, “Soulmates, huh?”

“Oh god,” Baekhyun groans, rolling away from him and hiding his face in his hands. “Just leave me here to die, that was a thing I actually said with my face to your face.”

Jongdae laughs as his arm snakes around Baekhyun’s middle, pulling him back in. 

“Hey, hey, come back here,” he says. He props himself up on his elbow to smile down at Baek and adds, “You were right, weren’t you?”

“How are we supposed to be sure, even?”

Jongdae shrugs. “I don’t know, feel it in our bones?”

Baekhyun closes his mouth into a thin line, but Jongdae can see the joke he wants to make bursting at the seams, and he finally says, with an unconcealed grin, “Our bones, huh.”

“Eh? Ehh?” Jongdae says as he waggles his brow in the most obnoxious way he can manage.

They both explode into laughter, and Jongdae leans down to kiss him again. Baekhyun’s chest rumbles against his as he keeps laughing into the kiss, and it makes Jongdae smile so hard his face feels like it will crack in half. It’s almost pointless to kiss like this, neither of them able to keep a straight face nor open their mouth for fear of busting up all over again, but Jongdae is so happy he can’t _not_. 

Baekhyun pushes back, his fingers dancing over Jongdae’s shoulders and tapping at the base of his neck in that way he does when he knows he’s being reckless. He smiles and bites his lip.

“We should go on a date,” he finally says.

“Hell yes,” Jongdae answers in an instant. “Let’s go right now.”

“Yeah!”

They scramble out of bed and get dressed in whatever is at hand, meaning everything Baekhyun is wearing is actually Jongdae’s. It’s not the first time this has happened, but it is significantly more satisfying this time around, knowing that possessive spark in his gut is justified, knowing exactly what it means that Baekhyun’s cheeks flush as he pulls a hoodie over his head. Baekhyun looks a little smug himself as he looks down at his borrowed outfit, and Jongdae can’t help the delighted laugh that escapes him as they head out into the hall. 

The living room looks much the same as how they left it, except now Chanyeol has moved to the couch and is scrolling on his phone before he hears them come down the hall.

“Jongdae!” he calls, bearing no heed to how Minseok and Han are still asleep right next to him. “Welcome to adulthood man, you dream about your soulmate?”

Jongdae grins.

“Nope.”

“I did!” Baekhyun chimes in right away, then leans against Jongdae as if he’s swooning. “I dreamt of the most comfortable couch in the universe.”

Chanyeol scoffs. “That does not count.”

“It does too, I’m gonna find that couch and nap on it for the rest of my life!”

“Actually you're right, a couch is perfect for you, you fucking potato.”

“I'm not a potato, how dare you, look at these abs,” Baekhyun pouts, already reaching down to lift his shirt to prove it. 

“Oh my god Baek, I want breakfast,” Jongdae whines, shaking him by his arm to stop him. 

“Oh,” Chanyeol perks up, teasing forgotten, “you guys are getting breakfast?”

“You're not invited, it's a date,” Baekhyun informs him, sticking out his tongue and suddenly eager to make for the door. 

“Whaaat.”

“Bye!” Jongdae adds with a wave as Baekhyun drags him away.

It’s a moment before the whole of Baekhyun’s statement catches up to Chanyeol and, as they leave the house, they hear him call after them. 

“What!!”

**Author's Note:**

> you know as soon as the door closes Minseok and Han (who were not actually still asleep) are like "CALLED IT! CAAAALLLED IIIIIT"
> 
> Also, sorry for the lack of Kyungsoo. I have plans for him...
> 
> [Twitter.](https://twitter.com/Sharon_Blaauw)


End file.
